A Prayer For Protection From Enemies
March 2, 2024
Commentary
In this Psalm we see David as a warrior, a witness and a worshiper. He first of all realizes that it is almost impossible to fight against gossip. People he had thought were his friends were telling lies about him. A person can be destroyed by a malicious tongue easier than by a bullet. David intercedes with God to overthrow his enemies and rescue him from their evil devices. In spite of his kindness and sympathy his enemies hated and dealt deceitfully and cruelly with him.
David tells the Lord that he wants his foes to be:
Defeated (vv. 1-3) – He asks the Lord to stand between him and his enemies. The shield was the smaller hard weapon of war and the buckler was that which covers the whole body.Destroyed (vv. 4-8) – He asks that his worthless enemies be blown away as chaff. Imagine praying that a man’s path might be not only dark but slippery (v. 6).David then expresses how he wants his fears to be dissolved by:
The Joy of the Lord (vv. 5-9). In the day that he was running from Saul he never knew when Saul might over take him. He was always on the run and often with fear gnawing at his heart. He had discovered that joy in the Lord was the greatest antidote for fear.The Justice of the Lord (v. 10). He expresses how his bones will even thrill when he sees the injustices of life corrected. This is what he wants done to his fears.
Application
It is so useless for me to fight against my enemies in this life. It is so much better to just turn them over to the Lord and let Him take care of them in His own time and in His own way.
Psalms 35:1– 10 (NET)
Verses not found.
Illustration: Young Officer Gives His Life to Recue Another Who Was drowning
When the troop-ship Birkenhead was lost, a young officer, Alexander Cumine Russell, commanded one of the boats carrying the women and children. He saw a sailor’s body swimming above the waves close to the boat. There was not room for a single person more, but a woman in the boat cried in agony: “Save him! He is my husband!” Russell looked at the woman and her children and the struggling sailor, then plunged into the water and helped the man to what had been his own place of safety. He disappeared from view among the angry waves and the hungry sharks. (Source Unknown).